Telegraph-key.



P. W. SMITH & DE WITT C. CONKLING.

TB'LEGRAPH KEY.) APPLIUATION ILBD xmms, 190s.

933,726. y Patented sept. 7, 1909.

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I'. W. SMITH n DE WITT.C.LGONKLING.

TBLEGRAPH KEY.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 1908. 9333726. Patented sept. 7, 1909.

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Fig. 2

wth/wam: Svi/m1426065 iininsTATns PATENT onirica FRANK W. SMITH. AND DEWITT C. CONKLING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TELEGRAPH-KEY.

Application filed .Tune 6, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK W. SMITH and DE WITT C. CoNxLiNG, citizens ofthe United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York andState of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inTelegraph-Keys, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to that class of telegraph keys or transmitters inwhich separate manually controlled members or levers are used for thesending respectively of dots and dashes.

The invention consists broadly in the combination in a telegraph key, ofa manually controlled member for closing circuit to line andelectrically controlled means in saidvcircuit for intermittentlyinterrupting the same: also in the means combined with the foregoing forregulating the periodicity of said interruptions: also in the variouscornbinations more particularly set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1 is a plan view of our improved keywith the magnet coil shown in dotted lines in order to exhibit partsotherwise concealed. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and Fig. 3 is a diagramshowing the connections in the instrument.

Similar characters of reference indicate like parts.

Upon the base 1, preferably of wood or other insulating material, isdisposed a strip 2 of brass from which rise the pole pieces 3, 4,between which is secured the magnet coil 5. The armature 6 is pivoted instandard 7 below the magnet coil to the brass strip 2, and its endsextend in front of respectively opposite sides of said pole pieces, sothat when the coil is active, said ends are drawn into contact with thesides of the pole pieces as shown in Fig. 1, against the pull of thehelical retracting spring 8. One extremity of spring 8 is secured tosaid armature and the other extremity to a rotary tension pin 9 disposedin a fixed standard. On the outer face of the armature is a leaf spring10, the free end portion of which makes contact with a screw 11 disposedin standard 12. j

Two operating keys 13 and 24 movable in a horizontal plane, areprovided. The key 13 is pivoted in a standard 15 and extends between afixed stop and a helical spring 17, which is interposed between said keyand a screw 18 adjustable in a fixed standard. Be-

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 7, 1909. seriai No. 437,077.

tween the pivot standard 15 and the finger piece 20, said key carries acontact 21 formed on the end of the adjusting screw 22, which passesthrough the body of the key and is provided with a locking nut. The'key24 is pivoted in standard 25 and is provided with a finger piece 23 andwith a similar Contact 26 carried by screw 27 also having a locking nut.The key 24 extends beyond the armature pivot 7 and carries a block 30 ofrubber which is normally pressed against the side of the armature 6 bymeans of the helical spring 31 interposed between said kev and. a screw32, which screw is adjust- Between the keys 13 and 24 is a fixedstandard 34 carrying the contacts 35 and 36 which are respectivelydisposed in front of the key contacts 26 and 21. The helical springs 17and 31 acting on the keys normally keep the key contacts 21 and 26 frommeeting the fixed contacts 35 and 36. Below the standard 34 is a metalplate 37 with which the pivoted cut out lever 38 may close contact.

Extending from the end of the armature 6 is a rod 39 on which is asliding weight 40 which may be secured in adjusted position on the rodby set screw 41.

Interposed between theV pole piece 4 and the brass strip 2 is a pivotedlever 42 which moves over the contacts 43, between which contactsresistances 44 are interposed in the usual way.

The circuit connections, symbolically illustrated in Fig. 3 in which thearmat-ure is displaced from beneath the magnet coil for the sake ofclearness, are as follows: From -jline to cut out switch lever 38 tostandard 34 and so to contacts 35, 36. From contact'36 to key 13 toline. From contact 35 to key 24 (by wire b) to electromagnet coil 5, topole piece 4 to which pole piece the terminal of electromagnet 5 is tocon neet, to strip 2, pivot standard 7, armature 6, leaf spring 10,screw 11, standard 12, and by branch a to line. In shunt with theelectromagnet coil are lever 42 and the resistances 44.

The operation is as follows: The operator resting his hand on the tabletakes the two finger pieces between his thumb and his forefinger: sothat by swinging his hand at the wrist to the right he may cause the key24 to close circuit at 26 and 35, and by swinging it to the left he vmaycause key 13 to close circuit at 21 and 36. Key 13 is intended to beused in sending Morse simply as a key for making dashes in the ordinaryway through makes and breaks at the contacts. When key 24. is closed,dots are transmitted by reason of makes and breaks between the leafspring 10 and the end of screw 11; and these makes and breaks areproduced by the vibration of the armature 6, due to the energizing ofthe magnet. coil 5. Or in other words, so long as key 24 is caused toclose circuit at 26 and 3o, the magnet coil keeps the armature invibration and thecircuit is thereby interrupted to produce dotsdepending in number upon the time the key is kept closed, and upon therate of speed at which the armature vibrates.

The time during which the key is kept closed is, of course, regulated bythe operator. The rate of speed of the armature vibration, and hence,the periodicity of the intermittent interruptions in the circuit to linemay be governed in four ways. 1. By moving the weight 110 upon the rod39 nearer to or farther from the armature pivot. 2. By adjusting, bymeans of screw l1 the width of the air gap between the end of said screwand leaf spring 10. 3. By adjusting by means of rotary pin 9, thetension of helical ret-racting spring 8. 4. By moving lever 42 to throwmore or less resistance into shunt with the magnet coil. Thisconstruction permits of the vibration speed of the armature beingregulated with great nicety, so that for a given period of key closureeffected by a: single movement of the operator, a certain number of dotswill automatically be transmitted. Hence in sending Morse signals, theoperator while making individual dashes with the key 13 in the ordinaryway, produces dots in desired number simply by holding key 24 closed fora shorter or longer period of time. The instrument having now beeninstalled on actual lines and being in commercial use, we have found itsworking in the manner described to be practical and time saving, andbecause the motion of the hand is lateral while resting on a firmsupport, the operator is relieved from the well known troubles incidentto the vertical motion of the hand required by the ordinary key.

We claim: Y 1. In a telegraph key, a manually controlled circuit closingmember and in series therewith to line an electromagnet, an armaturevibrated thereby and means controlled by said armature for making andbreaking circuit, and across the terminals of said magf members beinglconnected to said last named terminal through a circuit including inseries an electromagnet, van' armature vibrated thereby, and meanscontrolled by said armature for making and breaking said circuit.

3. Tn a telegraph key, a horizontal electromagnet, vertical pole piecessupporting said magnet, an armature pivoted below said magnet and havingits end portions disposed iny front of relatively opposite sides of saidpole pieces, a manually operated circuit closingk member and a make andbreak device controlled by said armature, the said manually operatedmember, armature and make and break device being in circuit to line.

4. In a telegraph key, an electromagnet, an armatureL vibrated thereby,means controlled by said armature for making and breaking circuit toline, a manually controlled. device for closing circuit to said magnet,and means for normally retaining said armature against the poles of saidmagnet.

5. In a telegraph key, an electromagnet, an armature vibrated thereby,means controlled by said armature for making and breaking circuit toline, a manually controlled lever for closing circuit to said magnet,and resilient means for pressing said lever normally against saidarmature to hold the same in contact with the poles of said magnet.

In testimony whereof we have ailiXed our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

FRANK W. SMITH. DE vWITT C. CONKL'ING.

Witnesses GERTRUDE T. PORTER,

MAY T. MCGARRY.

